I talked to an elementary school principal with 25 years experience today. I asked him if they were doing any fundraising at his school. The big kick-off was yesterday. He said everybody was in the auditorium for the big dog-and-pony show. The grand prize--a limousine ride to CiCi's pizza--really worked the crowd into a lather. They went wild as he put it. He termed the fundraising "organized educational prostitution."
He had done numerous kinds of "schemes" as he called them, and seemed pretty familiar with all the pitfalls (no personal checks, no product leaves the building until it's been counted and signed for, get money first and then provide product). He said they didn't do magazines or wrapping paper--"if you can't eat it, we don't sell it." He termed the stuff they were selling "junk."
Apparently the standard profit margin on most items sold is 50 %. He said the only point of negotiation was whether the money for prizes came out of the school's funds or the company's money. He described his kids as belonging to the entire social strata but predominantly to the lower socio-economic classes. He talked about kids' fathers who were in prison, about parents who held two jobs, about people not having phones. His theory is to do one big project early, give it your all, and get it over with before other schools start their selling. He said spring fundraising was becoming more and more common. They didn't make much money off school pictures, probably about $4,000.
I described the MusicCard to him. He reacted noticeably to the $10.99 price for CD's. He said, "You put that in a middle school or high school, and it will sell."
Oh, yeah, one other thing. How much money will his 900 lower socio-economic kids raise off the sales project? Twenty-five thousand dollars. Thinking I had misunderstood, I asked, "Are you grossing $25,000?" He said, "No, we will net $25,000. We will gross $50,000."
When I mentioned the band has to raise $45,000 (an astonishing figure to me), he didn't blink. He said that amount of money wouldn't faze the people who are going to raise it.
REW, I think 600 cards per school may be lowballing.
Regards, Suzanne |
